20230419 Question and Answer Session

The following is a Question & Answer Session given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 19th, 2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Question: Today is Gadādhara Paṇḍita appearance day. Why don’t we fast or celebrate Gadādhara Paṇḍita’s or Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura’s appearance day we fast on Lord Nityānanda’s appearance day?

Jayapatākā Swami: We generally fast on the days of viṣṇu-tattva. But we also fast on Rādhāṣṭamī. And, I don’t know why we don’t fast on Gadādhara and Śrīvāsa’s appearance days. They are very merciful! Because someone asked why is it that Lord Kṛṣṇa makes us fast till midnight and Rādhārāṇī only till midday. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Rādhārāṇī is more merciful. Maybe in the appearance day of Gadādhara, He is super merciful. I don’t know if they cooked anything special today?

Kalāsudhā devī dāsī: You had some Gujarati prasāda for lunch today.

Jayapatākā Swami: Gadādhara, was He Gujarati? Gadādhara he would cook sometimes imli chutney, tamarind chutney. It was so good that Lord Caitanya said whenever He cooks that I will be there. We don’t know what preparations Gadādhara Prabhu liked to cook. I only know of one, the tamarind chutney. Lord Caitanya He liked śākas. So we had His Holiness Śivarāma Swami over for lunch, also Nirañjana Swami and Devāmṛta Swami. They (my cooks) cooked 30 varieties of śākas! I don’t know if they have that many śākas here in Dallas. But in Bengal, there are lots of śākas.

Sarvajaya Mādhava dāsa: Somehow, we had imli puliyara rice in the afternoon and Bhel-purī in the evening with imli chutney!

Jayapatākā Swami: Bhel-purī, wow! That is a rare delicacy, Mumbai-khāna! Any question, youth?

Question: You mentioned that Rādhārāṇī doesn’t like to come in front of Lord Nityānanda, what is the reason?

Jayapatākā Swami: There is a cultural reason that the wife of the younger brother doesn’t like to appear before the elder brother.

Question: What is the best way to preach and is it offensive to preach to the faithless, so how do you preach then?

Jayapatākā Swami: You see we don’t tell the glories of the holy name to a faithless person. If you say, oh, you chant the holy name it will destroy all your sins. He is a faithless person he does not believe in sin. You just tell them chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy, not going through all the glories of the holy name. Just tell them chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy! Eat this prasāda, bhel-purī! It was very nice Gujarati prasāda today.

Question: While reading the Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya-khaṇḍa verse 6.105 there is the explanation of the demigods drinking milk from Mother Devakī got transcendental knowledge. What took so long for Mother Devakī to get the transcendental knowledge? The sons got transcendental knowledge. But Mother Devakī even after having Lord Kṛṣṇa, still had attachment for the six dead sons?

Jayapatākā Swami: You know, she had not asked before. But when she heard that the dead son of Sāndīpani Muni was brought back to life by Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, then that reminded her that her six sons were killed by Kaṁsa. And then she asked Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, that can you give me the six sons back? And because her breast milk was kṛṣṇa-prasāda, we can see the value of kṛṣṇa-prasāda. And so when they had the kṛṣṇa-prasāda, they got back remembrance of their spiritual position. And so they were told by the Supreme Lord that they should offer their prostrate obeisances to Lord Brahmā and beg for his forgiveness. Now, they were so exalted, they were the grandsons of Lord Brahmā. We cannot see Lord Brahmā, we are insignificant. These are very great souls, but because they laughed, they criticized Lord Brahmā, they had to suffer so much. So if they had to suffer so much, what to speak of us! We are not so significant so we will have to suffer a lot. So we have to be very careful, to always respect Vaiṣṇavas and Vaiṣṇavīs.

Question: As we grow in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and become devotees who are in senior positions, and at the phase of becoming mature devotees, we still tend to make vaiṣṇava-aparādhā while having that position, (Jayapatākā Swami: Should not make vaiṣṇava-aparādhā!) and naturally when we have power and position that is what the people instead of having humility, because of their power and position, people, they tend to make or have the tendency to make vaiṣṇava-aparādhā. How do we correct that?

Jayapatākā Swami: You were not here last night. We talked that sometimes a father, a senior devotee, may have to correct a junior devotee. It is not considered an offence. The criticizing or laughing at Lord Brahmā that is something offensive. If you have to correct a junior devotee, if you have to correct someone do that in private so that their ego won’t be troubled. And if we have to do it, then do as a sandwich, do you know what it means sandwich? You first of all praise them, and then say what you want to say criticizing them, then you praise them again. That way, they don’t feel that the person doesn’t love me. But we should not criticize, laugh at some senior devotee. That may be there in ISKCON, but we should not do that.

Question: A lot of us who are working and or students, we often face a lot of anxiety and stress at work, and those days our mind does not want to focus on Lord Kṛṣṇa or think of Kṛṣṇa, so what is the best say on those situations, in those days to try to focus or mind to remind us of Kṛṣṇa?

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t know why your mind doesn’t want to think about Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa is our shelter. And we can apologize for feeling some anxiety, that I should not be feeling like this, so we pray to Kṛṣṇa to give us strength, so that we don’t succumb to these modes of ignorance and passion. He is our best friend, right? From seventh - dāsyam, sakhyam, ātma-nivedanam, eighth He is our friend! You want to tell your friend, you are feeling some anxiety. What are friends for? Right?

Question: Because youth are here, I would like to ask you this question. You are the pioneer of the ISKCON movement after Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave you Māyāpur and asked you to develop it and run the movement. What is your advice to the youth for the future of ISKCON? How do you want to see the youth taking on the responsibilities of ISKCON? Right now they are not fully connected – they are enjoying the kīrtana, they are enjoying the prasāda, they are enjoying the association, they are enjoying Kṛṣṇa’s friendship. But responsibility-wise how do you see the youth taking part in ISKCON?

Jayapatākā Swami: I joined when I was 19 years old. At that time, I visited all the ISKCON temples in the world, all three! San Francisco, New York and Montreal. Now I cannot say the same thing. But I thought I would please my parents because I was becoming a devotee and giving up all bad habits and things. But when I called my father, he told me, you come back immediately or I will send you to the Army to die in Vietnam. I asked Śrīla Prabhupāda, “What should I do?” He said, “Well, better you join Kṛṣṇa’s army!” Of course, they don’t have the draft now in America, but I am still part of Kṛṣṇa’s army! So I felt so indebted to Śrīla Prabhupāda that he gave me so much that I can never pay him back. But I am trying to do that by carrying out all the instructions he gave me. So like that, actually, the youth can achieve anything - sky is the limit, if they want. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying in 1973, he asked his gṛhastha followers to become paramahaṁsas. We know that the sannyāsī, the high level is paramahaṁsa. But he was saying that he wanted his gṛhasthas to be paramahaṁsas. And he said we also need a lot of ācāryas. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha, he was the father of my (Śrīla Prabhupāda’s) guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So he asked all the gṛhasthas to be ācāryas or gurus. And that is why I am encouraging that everyone read Śrīla Prabhupāda books. And get the different degrees – actually I met a young girl, she is 25 years old or something in the place next to Bengaluru, Hosur. She already had her Bhakti-vedānta degree and she was going for Bhakti-Sārvabhauma! For young people it is very easy, they don’t have other things to do. Śrīla Prabhupāda asked me to be a guru when I was like 28. So I want to see lots of young gurus. But they have to read Śrīla Prabhupāda books, they have to know the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You see here, a lot of our ladies are doctors, in India, 70% of the Justices are ladies. Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying it is a matter of training. If people are trained in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then they can spread it like anything.